blinovitch_lmt_doctor_who_databasefandomcom-20200215-history
The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)
The Sontaran Stratagem 'is the fourth episode of the fourth series of ''Doctor Who. It was written by Helen Raynor, directed by Douglas Mackinnon and featured David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, Catherine Tate as Donna Noble and Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones. Overview To be added Synopsis Martha, now a qualified member of UNIT, summons the Doctor back to Earth to help investigate a series of deaths connected to ATMOS, a worldwide emission removal system equipped to every car on the planet. Unbeknownst to them all, however, is that the devices are just a front for an insidious plan by silent adversaries of the Doctor, who are waiting and watching above the skies of the Earth. Meanwhile, Donna decides to pay a visit to her family... Plot Reported Jo Nakashima is thrown from the occupants of the Rattigan Academy, overseen by underage genius Luke Rattigan. Nakashima insists that his invention, the emission-reduction system ATMOS, is dangerous, but Rattigan dismisses her claims as without evidence. She gets into her car, also installed with ATMOS and orders it to take her to UNIT headquarters. While she drives, she makes a call ahead to Colonel Mace about her discoveries when she realises the ATMOS satnav has directed her to a riverfront. As she gets out to walk, the car automatically locks itself and starts driving forward; unable to save herself, Nakashima is driven into the river and the car sinks below the surface. In the TARDIS, the Doctor teaches Donna the basics of piloting the console when, to her surprise, a mobile phone starts ringing. The Doctor removes it from the console and answers the call to Martha who summons him back to Earth. He lands the TARDIS close to where the call came from and greets Martha heartily while she and Donna also meet. She receives a call on her radio and starts coordinating UNIT soldiers in a raid on an ATMOS factory where all the workers are arrested. Martha, who had since been made a fully-qualified doctor on account of her field experiences and is now engaged to Dr. Tom Milligan, brings the Doctor to Colonel Mace who explains the situation of fifty-two people had died simultaneously in their cars in eleven different worldwide time zones, all connected to ATMOS. They show the Doctor a mock-up of an ATMOS unit in the hopes that he can discern any alien involvement. Meanwhile, a pair of UNIT soldiers, Privates Harris and Gray look around the lower sections of the ATMOS factory and find two men standing guard by a sealed door. Upon observing them through security feeds, their alien controller instructs them to let them inside. Upon entry, they find a large, metal vat filled with a green liquid when a featureless body springs out at them and resubmerges itself. Harris deduces that somebody is growing a human body; a stout creature in armour suddenly appears behind them and disables their legs before removing his helmet to their horror. In the factory, the Doctor and Martha continue to examine the ATMOS unit when Donna comes back and informs them and Mace that she had a look through the office and found an empty file designated to staff sick days, meaning that, in a factory of hundred, nobody has gotten ill. Mace orders Martha to set up a medical station to examine the staff while Donna helps and Mace shows the Doctor Rattifgan's portfolio and background; deciding he needs to speak to Rattigan, the Doctor asks Mace to procure him a lift to the Rattigan Academy. While Martha suggests that Donna tell her family about her travels, remembering the ill-effects of not doing so from her own experience, the alien warrior brings out the brainwashed Harris and Gray and instructs them to await further orders. Mace instructs Private Ross Jenkins to transport the Doctor to the Rattigan Academy and Donna, taking Martha's suggestion, goes with them to pay a visit to her family. Meanwhile, Martha sets up a medical station and does an examination of one of the workers. When he presents a persistently and inhumanly fast heartbeat, she goes to find Mace when the brainwashed Harris and Gray catch up to her and claim to take her to him. Donna is dropped off on her road in Chiswick where she reunites with her grandfather Wilf. Back at the ATMOS factory, Harris and Gray bring Martha to the concealed chamber and drag her inside. Donna tells Wilf all about her travels and he is amazed but both agree to keep it schtum from Sylvia, who promptly comes in complaining at Donna again and she agrees to stay for dinner. The Doctor and Jenkins make it to the Rattigan Academy and the Doctor is wowed by the level of science taking place there. He pulls out the ATMOS unit already aware that, despite being human technology, needed other person's hand in making it. Noticing a teleport pod in the corner of the room, the Doctor steps inside and activates it, finding himself on the receiving end aboard s Sontaran battle fleet. He rushes back through the teleport and one Sontaran follows him; fusing the teleport, the Doctor interrogates him. He identifies himself as General Staal of the Tenth Sontaran Battle Fleet. The Doctor, remembering the Sontaran's probic vent as their weakness, disables him by bouncing a ball off a wall into it and escapes with Jenkins while he is downed. Staal and Rattigan return to the battle fleet above the planet and establish that at least 400,000,000 cars are fitted with ATMOS, only about 50% of the total amount but Rattigan informs them that it is sufficient. Commander Skorr teleports down to the ATMOS factory where he watches Harris and Gray clamp Martha into a large machine and activates the liquid vat, from which a perfect clone of Martha emerges. Rattigan and Staal look over the Earth from above when Rattigan informs the Sontaran that the vehicle the Doctor escaped in would have had ATMOS installed. Remembering the Doctor as an old enemy of the Sontarans, Staal orders the ATMOS unit in the jeep to be overridden and starts driving him and Jenkins towards the river. Before the vehicle goes in the water though, the Doctor countermands the device by instructing it to drive him into the river know it was programmed to act contrary to his command. The jeep stops and the Doctor and Jenkins jump clear, expecting an explosion, but the satnav just goes up in an anticlimactic spark and the system goes dead. The Sontarans, assuming the Doctor to have been terminated, proceed with their plans. Meanwhile, at the ATMOS factory, the clone Martha, now installed with the real Martha's memories, takes her place in the operation as a mole for the Sontarans. The Doctor heads back to Donna's house and investigates the ATMOS unit threading in her car. Wilf comes out and both of them recognise each other from their meeting the previous Christmas when he vanished in front of him. Donna calls Martha and the clone answers; the Doctor tells her to inform Mace of the Sontarans' involvement but the clone doesn't tell him when she's asked. While the Doctor examines the device, he accidentally activates it and alerts the Sontarans. Staal, realising he survived, orders the plan to be instigated ahead of schedule. The Doctor manages to blow the device attached to the engine but Wilf tries to get it off the street and the car locks itself, starting to fill up with fumes. Suddenly, all the cars across the world start activating and the air is filled with fumes, causing people to start choking everywhere. UNIT soldiers attempt to stop the vehicles at the ATMOS factory while "Martha" and the two brainwashed Privates prepare to assist in the Sontaran's plan. As Donna watches Wilf start to choke and lose consciousness inside the car, the Sontarans proclaim a victory chant up above and the Doctor stands watching as fumes start to consume the world. Cast * The Doctor - David Tennant * Donna Noble - Catherine Tate * Martha Jones - Freema Agyeman * Wilfred Mott - Bernard Cribbins * Sylvia Noble - Jacqueline King * Luke Rattigan - Ryan Sampson * Colonel Mace - Rupert Holliday Evans * General Staal - Christopher Ryan * Commander Skorr - Dan Starkey * Jo Nakashima - Eleanor Matsuura * Private Harris - Clive Standen * Private Gray - Wesley Theobald * Ross Jenkins - Christian Cooke * Worker - Rad Kaim * Atmos Voice - Elizabeth Ryder Crew To be added References To be added Story Notes To be added Continuity To be added Home video and audio releases To be added External Links * Official ''The Sontaran Stratagem'' page on '''Doctor Who Website